RECIPE: Cacahuates enchilados (Chile Roasted Peanuts)

With summer drinks and BBQs a common happening, it's a great to have a simple snack on hand - and a homemade one is sure to impress your guests. Cacahuate is derived from the Nahuatl word, cacahuatl or cocoa bean. This recipe incorporates chile and lime, making it the perfect snack followed by a chilled beer. When the chile de arbol is roasted, it smells of peanuts, which compliments the natural peanut flavor well.

Cacahuates enchilados

Ingredients:

CACAHUATE /ka.ka.wa.te/

Classical Nahuatl:

Noun

1. cocoa bean.

• 5 chile de arbol, whole stem intact

• 2 cups peanuts, unsalted

• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil

• 1 lime

• 2 teaspoons salt

Method:

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1. On a comal over medium heat, toast the chile de arbol until a darker shade of brown. Do not burn or else the chiles will be bitter. Cut the chiles in half, not allowing the seeds to spill out.

2. In a skillet, heat the oil over medium heat and add the peanuts. Turn them constantly until they start to become fragrant. Add the chiles and toast until well incorporated, about two minutes.

3. Remove from heat and add the lime juice and salt while still warm. Serve while warm.

RECIPE: Chiles Rellenos

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Chile Relleno Sauce Ingredients

Chiles Rellenos, or stuffed chiles, is a classic Mexican recipe from the city of Puebla. A stop along the route on the journey from the port of Veracruz to Mexico City, Puebla was influenced by Europe's passing visitors inspiring cuisine that mixed the best of both continents. The first mention of the recipe is from 1858.

With a delicate meringue coating and a cheesy interior, the robust flavor of the fresh chile shines through in this archaic dish. This dish is a bit labor intensive, but it is so versatile in terms of what you can stuff inside the chile, I often make this for my vegetarian friends. 

Serves 4

Ingredients:

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Chiles Rellenos

• 4 Poblano chiles, fresh and stem intact

• 3 tomatoes

• 2 garlic cloves

• 1 white onion slice, 1/2 inch

• 3 Guajillo chiles

• 3 Puya chiles

• 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano

• 3 allspice berries

• 1 inch piece canela (Mexican cinnamon)

• 3 eggs

• 2 cups vegetable oil

• Oaxaca or Monterrey Jack cheese, 8 ounces sliced

• 1/4 cup flour

Method:

1. Over a high flame charr the Poblano chiles until the skin is blackened. Be sure to charr every area of the chile or else the skin will stick leaving a tough exterior. Place the chiles in a bowl and cover with a plate until they are cool enough to handle. Slide the skin off the chile and leave the stem intact. Set aside.

2. Over medium-high heat, roast the tomatoes, garlic, onion slice on a comal until charred and fragrant - place in blender. Toast the chiles over the comal until fragrant and a darker shade of red being careful not to burn them - place in blender. Add the oregano, allspice, canela and 1 cup of water to the jar and blend for 4 minutes, alternating speed to ensure that no large skin pieces remain. Pass the liquid through a strainer into a sauce pot over medium heat. Salt accordingly and cook for 30 minutes until the liquid has reduced by half.

3. Separate the eggs and reserve two of the yolks. Whisk the meringue to soft peaks and slowly add the egg yolks, one at a time. Heat the vegetable oil to 350 degrees.

4. Slit the chiles in the center and add the cheese slices. Dredge the filled chiles into the flour mixture, coating the entire outside surface. Gently lay the chiles, one at a time, in the meringue and fold the mixture over, covering the entire chile. Lay the chiles into the oil and fry until golden brown on each side. Remove to a towel to collect the excess grease.

5. Laddle the tomato-chile sauce into a bowl and lay the chile relleno on top. Serve with rice and beans on the side.

RECIPE: Tacos de Chilorio

Think carnitas, but spicy and luxurious. Chilorio is a braised pork from the Mexican state of Sinaloa. The garlic, chiles, and vinegar act as a preservative for the meat which is often served in open air markets, an alternative to refrigeration. The meat is slowly cooked until it falls from the bone and then fried in a chile adobo that packs a flavorful punch. If you make enough of it (in the tradition of preserving the meat) the chilorio accompanies scrambled eggs and fried potatoes the next morning.

Serves 6

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Tacos de chilorio

Ingredients:

• 2.5 pounds pork roast, cut into 2 inch pieces

• 3 tablespoons lard OR vegetable oil

• 3 ancho chiles

• 3 guajillos chiles

• 1/2 cup orange juice

• 4 garlic cloves

• 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano

• 1 teaspoon cumin

• 1 tablespoon vinegar

• salt to taste

• radish, sliced in allumettes

• cilantro

• fresh tortillas

Method:

1. Place the pork in a large heavy bottomed pot and cover with 4 cups of water and bring to a rolling boil. Lower the heat to a steady simmer and put the lard in the pot, allowing it to slip off the spoon. Allow the water to evaporate and the meat to caramelize slightly. Shred and break up the meat in bite size pieces.

2. While the meat cooks, heat a comal over medium heat and toast the chiles. Once fragrant and a darker shade, but not burnt, reconstitute the seeded and deveined chiles in water for 30 minutes.

3. In a blender combine the chiles, orange juice, garlic, oregano, cumin, vinegar and blend until smooth, with visual red chile skin pieces showing.

4. Raise the heat on the meat and pour the chile mixture over. Allow the sauce to season the meat for a few minutes. Season with salt to taste. Serve the meat on fresh tortillas and garnish with radish, cilantro, and salsa de chile de arbol.

VIDEO: Salsa de Molcajete 101

Don't get me wrong, I love my blender, but there is something very unique about the consistency of a pre-Hispanic molcajete ground salsa. The molcajete and temolote or, the "Aztec blender," are traditionally carved out of volcanic basalt rock and is essentially a three legged bowl. The texture of the salsas crushed by hand are thicker, meatier, and allow the maker to have precise control over how fine the ingredients should be smashed. With a blender, two pulses can make or break your salsa as the aggressive blades pulverize versus the temolote (hand held pestle), which crushes. At Casa Oaxaca our server prepared a salsa de molcajete tableside and used chile de arbol asking our level or spice and the presentation was absolutely fabulous.

For most tomatillo based salsas, I like to search Mexican markets for smaller tomatillos or tomates verdes. They pack much more flavor and are easier to control inside the walls of the bowl of the molcajete. If you cannot find the small ones, substitute for medium sized. The salt here is sal mexicana.

 

Molcajete:

mōlcaxitl /mo̞lkaˈxe̞t̪e̞/

Classic Nahuatl - Noun:

1. A small mortar, typically carved from vesicular basalt and used in traditional Mexican cuisine

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Ingredients:

• 2 white onion slices, 1/4 inch thick, skin on

• 2 garlic cloves, skin on

• 7-15 tomatillos (see above on size), skin removed

• 4-8 chiles de arbol, seeds and stem intact

• salt to taste

• 1 lime

Method:

1. Rinse out your molcajete and clean the tomatillos. Slice the onion into rings.

2. Over medium flame bring the comal to temperature. Place the onion, garlic, tomatillos, and chile de arbol on the comal. Allow the chiles to toast but not burn. Once they smell of peanuts, remove them from heat de-stem and allow them to reconstitute in cold water. Allow the remaining ingredients to charr. Flip them until they are cooked through - roughly 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat.

3. Place garlic cloves and salt in the molcajete. Crush the cloves and remove the skin from the garlic. Crush into a fine paste and then incorporate the remaining ingredients one by one until they are ground into a thick sauce. Add salt and lime to taste. Serve room temperature.

RECIPE: Pozole

POZOLE

/po'sole/

Classical Nahuatl:

Noun

1. hominy, pozolli

Pozole is a dish served all over Mexico and has many variations. My family makes this nearly every Holiday season and the hearty stew is sure to bring warmth back to a cold winter day. My recipe takes the best parts from my aunt's version of pozole and has been refined using French cooking techniques. The double straining through a fine mesh strainer makes all the difference in the broth. You can use dried or canned hominy, but if you want more control over the texture of the corn, spend the extra effort in soaking the dried kernels over night.

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Pozole rojo

Serves 6

Ingredients:

FOR THE POZOLE

• 2 lbs pork shoulder, cut into 4 large pieces

• 2 bay leaves

• 1/2 white onion

• 5 garlic cloves

• 3 guajillo chiles

• 2 ancho chiles

• 3 puya chiles

• 1 tablespoon Mexican oregano

• 1 teaspoon ground cumin

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 cup dried hominy (presoaked overnight) OR 1 8oz can prepared

• salt to taste

FOR THE GARNISH:

• lime wedges

• shredded cabbage

• sliced radish

• cilantro

GARNISH!

radish / rabano

Method:

1. Place the pork, bay leaves, and 1/4 of the onion, and 3 cloves of garlic in a pot. Cover the meat with water (roughly 8 cups) and bring to a boil. Skim the impurities off the surface of the boiling water and reduce the heat to a steady simmer. Cook for 1 hour, 15 minutes or until the meat is able to pull apart.

2. While the meat cooks, toast the chiles on a comal for roughly 1 minute until fragrant and smoking, but not burnt. (The soup will be bitter if the chiles are burnt.) Soak the chiles in water, cover and allow the chiles to reconstitute for 15 minutes. Deseed and de-stem the chiles and place in blender with 1/4 onion, 2 garlic cloves, oregano, cumin, and 1 cup of water. Blend for three minutes and then pass through a mesh strainer. Heat the olive oil in a pot on low heat and cook the chile paste for roughly 15 minutes, stirring constantly, until the mixture is a dark shade of red.

3. Remove the meat from the stock and chop into bite size cubes. Strain the stock through a mesh strainer and then a second time through a fine mesh strainer. Add the stock to the chile mixture and stir to blend. Add the pork and hominy and heat on low until the oil seperates out. Salt to taste. Serve with garnishes and fresh tortillas.

RECIPE: Tacos de Pollo Adobado

An adobo in Mexico consists of a couple staples with variations: chiles, garlic, spices. It can be used as a cooking liquid for braising, a marinade or a sauce over enchiladas. Technically speaking, a marinade has vinegar which acts as (traditionally since the Renaissance) a flavor enhancer and preservative of the meat being marinated. This adobo has three chiles, vinegar, and spices and can be applied to any meat you'd like. Be creative with your adobos by adding different chiles, variations on spices, chocolate etc. I like to charr the meat over a grill or sear in a pan so as to bring out that smokey chile flavor.  

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

• 5 cascabel chiles
• 2 pasilla chiles
• 2 guajillo chiles
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 2 cloves
• 4 whole allspice berries
• 1 inch piece canela (Mexican cinnamon)
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 cup water
• salt to taste
• 2 chicken breasts ( or other meat if desired)
• 1/4 white onion, thinly sliced
• 1 fresh lime, sliced into wedges
• cilantro, chopped

Method:

1. Heat the comal to low-medium heat and toast the chiles until fragrant and a visually darker shade. Place in a bowl of cool water for 30 minutes.
2. Place chiles, garlic, vinegar, cloves, allspice, canela, cumin, water, salt in blender and blend until smooth, roughly 3 minutes.
3. Pour the adobo over the meat and allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
4. Heat the grill or pan to high heat and sear the meat until cooked (160 degrees for chicken) and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Chop into small pieces for tacos and salt accordingly. Arrange over fresh tortillas and garnish with thinly sliced white onion, fresh lime juice and cilantro. Serve with rice and beans.

Chiles:

Front: Cascabel

Right: Guajillo

Rear: Pasilla

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Tacos de Pollo Adobado